Ashton Motte (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Lane End Farm

In the civil parish of Ashton Hayes.
In the historic county of Cheshire.
Modern Authority of Cheshire.
1974 county of Cheshire.
Medieval County of Cheshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SJ50556904
Latitude 53.21602° Longitude -2.74212°

Ashton Motte has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

The earthwork at Ashton is possible a ring-motte, but it is much obscured on the W and N by buildings etc. the site was trenched by the farmer in 1950 when the base of a rough stone wall to the east was found. Fragments of coal were found behind it, and Mr Webster (the curator, Grosvenor Museum) suggested it was probably a boundary wall of late date (oral information). A probable small motte, situated upon a low ridge south of Ashton. The earthwork, 30,0m in diameter at the base, 1.2m high, with a flat top, 14.0m across, has been reduced and spread by ploughing and has been cut into on the N by farmyard walls. There are no traces of a periphery bank and Webster's and Thompson's ring-motte classification cannot be substantiated. A scarp, 0.6 to 0.8m high, 20.0m S of the mound, may possibly represent the outer lip of a ditch but is more likely to be natural (F3 ASP 06-SEP-76).

On a low ridge on the S edge of Ashton village, are the very mutilated remains of an alleged motte. The site has been flattened by farm access from the NE, and by activity around farm buildings on the west. The whole has been puddled by cattle Tread. Because of this activity, and due to the proximity of the road, the form and overall dimensions are difficult to establish, but viewed from the southwest it appears as a pronounced swelling in the corner of the field. To the E a spread scarp falling to the N has been interpreted as a ditch, but the feature sits uncomfortably with the "motte", and seems too angular to be a convincing ditch. In the absence of historical reference, the interpretation of the feature as a motte is unwise, and its function, and antiquity must be left open to question (F4 WRWN 12-FEB-87). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 71320.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1852/1.

Books
- Ormerod, G., 1819, History of the County Palatine and city of Chester (London) Vol. 2 p. 181-2 (tenurial history) online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio